I think you have the attitude of a person who doesn't have the bankroll to be playing in these games. I have to admit that I might have the same attitude if I was actually put in that situation, simply because 10K is almost my entire bankroll and I'd not want to deal with the variance.

However, if I had a bigger bankroll of say 50K, and I got to a final table where there are two players left who I think I'm clearly better than them, I'd easily risk the 10K and go for the win. It simply doesn't happen very often that you get the opportunity to play for that kind of money when you have an edge. You might get a bad beat, oh well, if you're good, you're more likely to get your money in ahead and take some of that 10K from the other players. That's the situation you dream about when you register for the tournament.

BTW I don't think it's even debatable that the chop was terrible for the two short stacks. They didn't even get second place money and totally sacrificed their chances for first place money. Michael only had 60% of the chips in play it's not like he was a lock to win the tournament by any means. If one of the short stacks finished in these places with these percentages of the time

20% 1st place = 31K
40% 2nd place = 17K
40% 3rd place = 11K

which I think are reasonable guesses given the stack sizes, then the short stack's overall expectation is 17.5K. In the actual chop they both got about 15.5K. I'd be willing to give up a small amount of equity to reduce variance (especially against a very good opponent like michael) but not even close to that much. These guys each threw 2000 dollars into the trash can by taking that chop.